Christmas in the schoolhouse
by novelist24
Summary: A teenage boy on the run from the law breaks into his old school on Christmas eve night to hide, but soon discovers four little statue girls in the school that come to life every night. Originally a story for fiction press but decided it would be better here. Updates coming as soon as possible. enjoy!
1. On the run

Christmas in the schoolhouse

Christmas eve, nine o'clock at night. The streets were all empty as everyone had gone to spend the wonderful season with the most appropriate people in their lives to spend it with. There were but few cars in the street parked up along the side, only one of the them actually had people inside of it.

"Ok, you sure there's no one about?"

"Of course there's no one about, look, everyone goes home early on christmas eve don't they" the driver replied to the passenger.

"Have you checked for CCTV camera's?" he asked the passenger again.

"Yeah I've looked, there seems to be none on this street."

"Don't ya think that's kinda strange?" asked the passenger.

"Not really Sam no. All the camera's are gonna be on the other street, where the front of the antiques shop is, no one thinks to put it round the back behind the shop" The driver reassured.

"Why are we hitting an antiques shop anyway?" Sam complained in stereotypical teenage angst.

"Mate, it's an antiques shop, no one cares about those. And besides, they ain't gonna exactly have the best security system are they" the other driver teen replied.

The two waited a little while longer just to make sure there was no one else around. It could be compared to waiting for it to stop snowing in a snowstorm. They eventually decided it was time to get out, but just before they did, Sam's stomach decided to growl loudly enough for both to hear. "Geez, have you eaten today?"

"I told you Nathan, I haven't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon, and that was just a six inch sandwich from subway."

"Well don't worry, you'll be having a merry christmas after this. There's bound to be some food shops open until midnight." smiled Nathan.

The pair slowly stepped out of the car and onto the snow gently as if they were trying not to wake someone. They locked Nathan's car and crept towards the fuse box at the back of the shop. Nathan quickly used a hammer to break the lock and opened the box. Sam got to work on the wires, disabling the camera's and the alarms.

"All done." Sam brushed his gloved hands. "Now let's go."

The two silently smashed a window at the back so it wasn't in anybody else's audible range, and climbed in. They seemed to be in the back room, and pulled out a torch. The room they had stumbled into was full of christmas decorations and although not as neatly trimmed as the front room of the shop, it still could be mistaken for a grotto saint Nicholas himself could use. "There's the safe, hand me the knife" whispered Nathan.

Sam passed him the knife, and made his way to the manager's room whispering back "You do that, while I go and check something out."

"Where you going?"

"Manager's office."

"Ah, good choice."

Sam silently slid into the the office and made his way to the desk which behind it was a painting, which the teenager knew too well that was an obvious way to hide a safe.

He pulled out a small hand drill and began to cut a circle around the lock. It took him about five minutes but he succeeded.

He opened the safe, and although he knew something valuable would be inside, he was still shocked to see four golden objects. Reaching his arm in, he took the four, golden, very old, but shining coins. Sam knew this was an antique shop but this was something that even he didn't expect. Smiling at the sight of these coins, he slid them into his bag, and stepped outside the office and met up with his friend again who had a bag full of cash.

"What was in there then?" asked Nathan.

"I actually found-" Sam was about to reveal the golden coins to him, but decided quickly to hide them away, as he remembered, he needed the food and warmth more than his friend did. "Not that much really."

"Well let's try the front room, c'mon" ushered Nathan.

The partners in crime creeped into the main shop floor room past the counter, and decorations of plenty awaited the teenage robbers. "Wanna take some of this tinsel?" Nathan chuckled.

"What's the point?" asked Sam in a serious tone. "What use would we have for that?"

"Fair enough, let's just take some of the valuable stuff" replied Nathan.

"It's an antiques shop, it's all probably valuable" Sam reminded him.

"Well take anything then" Nathan called back as he made his way to the shelves. "What about all these 'season of giving' and 'goodwill to all men' cards, should we take them?"

"Why? What goodwill has christmas ever done us?" Sam sarcastically dismissed. "I mean look at us, look what we're doing right now, who's ever given to us at christmas? What family and friends have been spending time with us?" he ranted a bit more seriously.

"Feeling better now?" Nathan remarked after a short pause.

"Sorry mate, it's just-,"

"I know about your family and your arguments with them, but can we please keep personal matters out of business ones?" Nathan suggested holding a bag of items that he would soon call his belongings.

"Well, yeah, sorry, let's just carry on with-" Sam was slowly cut off by an ever growing siren sound. It became louder and blue lights in the distance began to get closer, and heading towards the antiques shop.

"What the hell? How do they know we're here?" Nathan seemed to shout in a whisper. Two seconds later the realisation came to Sam.

"The wire for the silent alarm! I must've not cut it right!" he realised.

"You idiot!"

"What do we do?" Sam whispered in a desperate voice.

"Go out the back, they'll go to the front of the shop first, they always do." The pair ran to the back room and to the window they originally came in.

"We'll have to run on foot, they'll track the tyres of the car" Sam warned.

"What? No they won't. We have to take the car, they'll catch us on foot."

"But they'll-"

"I know what I'm doing! C'mon hurry up!" ordered Nathan as Sam threw the bags of items out the window as quietly as he could. Meanwhile a group of police cars pulled up outside the shop and a few officers stepped out.

"Have you got the keys from the owners Smith?"

"Yes sir I'll open it now" the officer replied walking up to the door.

"Have the squad cars go around the back, that's where anyone would be if they were attempting a break in" the chief ordered.

"Get this stuff to the car quick!" Sam told Nathan hoping to get out the situation quicker, as Nathan ran to the car carrying the bags, all except Sam's backpack which he was wearing.

Sam jumped through the hole in the window. He rolled through the snow and quickly stood up, and then remembered to mess up the snow he rolled in so his body shape wouldn't be revealed for detectives. He started to run from the shop and into the middle of the back street.

"Hurry up man!" Nathan yelled, but as soon as he finished yelling, blue lights started to head towards either side of the street and sounds of sirens to accompany them. Nathan and Sam then looked back at each other and without saying anything, Nathan closed the door of his car and started the engine.

Sam's first reaction was shock and disbelief. "Nathan!" Sam yelled. The car then quickly turned and accelerated down a small alleyway.

"Nathan! you little-" the sirens were getting louder which obviously meant, closer. Quickly thinking, Sam ran to the nearest building and began to climb up the metal fence and then up the fire escape onto the roof.

The officers stepped out the cars and began inspecting the broken window. The chief stepped out too and started talking to the officers. He then looked around and looked in the direction of Sam on the roof, and saw him.

"Up there!" the chief alerted the officers.

Sam gasped and hightailed across the roof that very second.

"Someone get up there! Follow him through the streets with the cars!" the chief ordered climbing into the passenger seat of a squad car.

Sam realised he couldn't jump to the next rooftop so he leaped down to the fire escape attached on the other side of the building. He then tried jumping to the next building, but he slipped and was forced to grab onto a string of christmas lights which sent him into a swing. With his free hand he grabbed hold of the ledge of another building and dangled for a while.

"He's up there!" an officer's voice came from below. Sam pulled himself up and continued sprinting across the rooftops until he came to a set of trees which led to a forest. Sam climbed down a tree to the forest floor. Headlights appeared through the bushes and tree trunks.

'Great, just great' Sam sighed mentally whilst keeping up his pace. 'Maybe I should just let myself starve to death, it's less effort than this'.

The forest was large and no different from a maze at all. 'Where the hell do I go now?' he thought whilst painting.

He looked around for a good place to hide and desperately too since he heard the footsteps of the police running in his direction. They were most likely following his footsteps in the snow.

Having no better option climbed up the nearest tree. 'My footprints stop here, it's too obvious.'

He looked to his right, and thanks to his dilated pupils, saw a building not too far away within a few swings reach. Instantly the boy jumped across the treetops and branches until he reached the tree which leant over the fence to this building. He dropped down over the fence and luckily found an unlocked hatch into some sort of cellar.

He climbed down and shut the hatch behind him. 'Better lay low here for a while' he suggested to himself whilst holding his breath and listening for the police.

He heard distance shouting and footsteps, even some car noises, but none of them came any closer.

After he was sure the police were no longer roaming the forest, he peered out to lookout for any lights. There were none, he was safe. Sam sat himself down and breathed heavily for a long long time.

His stomach growled a few times though. Mentally groaning, he thought 'If I had some damn energy, I would've gotten away much fricken' quicker'.

After calming down, he started to look around out of curiosity of his new whereabouts. He was currently walking around in a dark room, quietly just in case there was someone occupying this building.

He pulled out his torch from his bag and began to look for some sort of exit. He came across some stairs whilst stumbling through the darkness and proceeded to walk up to an unlocked door. After one small look through the keyhole first to check for any presence whatsoever, he slowly slid through the doorway into a corridor.

The light seeming through the windows was enough so he didn't require a torch. The corridor was decked and trimmed with reefs and tinsel along with other displays celebrating the time of year, but Sam didn't pay any attention to that. He was more concerned with his location. It wasn't until he saw the shape of lockers and doors to other rooms that contained tables, chairs and whiteboards, that he realised he was in some sort of secondary school, which, seemed familiar to him.

He doubted there would be anyone in the school this time of night or year. He just hoped there weren't any cameras around the school or alarms. He then remembered he could easily go to a fuse box by reception and disable them there. That, wasn't the only thing he remembered about this place though. He recognised the classrooms, the office doors, the way the room was structured.

'This, this was _my_ school. My old, secondary school' he started to reminisce about his time here, not that he had any pleasant memories in this place. 'Never thought I'd end up back here'.

Being that he was a former student, he remembered the way perfectly, even through the darkness. Sam didn't know what was worse, almost being caught by the cops narrowly, or being stranded in a dark school in the middle of the night, a place in which he considered was the very reason he was stealing and being chased by cops in the first place.

'If it weren't for that double crossing Nathan I wouldn't be.'

Continuing to walk past the science rooms and into the room next to the Hall where the assemblies happened. The hall itself was trimmed and hung with baubles which during the daytime would've boasted their colour and spread some sort of cheer in a most depressing place. The most distinctive feature in the hall though was the grand tree itself, stretching itself upwards as if it's goal was to meet the ceiling. It was hard to tell whether it was fake or the real thing, but the decorations, like on any tree were the highlight.

Every ornament was hanging delicately along with every bauble and the tinsel. Just by appearance the ornaments were easily expressing how much love they showed for the christmas holiday they were designated for, like every ornament on any tree did.

The joyful drawings of people on the baubles doing the regular things at christmas was enough to express that they thought of this time of year as one for happiness and the prickly branches seemed so soft to them. Accompanied by a bed of tinsel, the tree itself just represented the love and warmth christmas gave for no price.

Many people would argue however, that a _merry_ christmas did come with a price, and Sam was one of them. He had no money apart from the bank notes he stole from the shop which were in his bag, and because of his lack of finances, he knew he would just spend another year at the top of those run down flats with food scraps and no one at all to share it with him.

He wondered on christmas what his family were doing at that time, and did secretly feel what would it be like to have family again. Those precious gold coins however would buy him a decent meal that's for sure.

The school itself was fairly old. Used since the Victorian era and many parts of it had to originally be rebuilt. The only thing that remained untouched however, and was as old as the school, was the grandfather clock, which, like what the tree was doing, trying to reach the ceiling but never succeeded.

While the clock was still ticking away in the room next to the big hall, its pendulum lyre swung side to side, and behind the glass cabinet and the clock itself below the moon dial ticked away, and just below the clock, were four grey stone statues of four little girls.

They were no bigger than someone's hand, and were all wearing very detailed dresses. The skirt parts of the dresses almost resembled tutu's, but angled slightly lower, so they ended just above the girl's knees.

Each was wearing typical little girl shoes and the shoulder parts of the dresses were puffed up, like a fairytale princess dress, and even though they were all grey, if their hair was going to have any colour, it would've been blonde.

Each was a different height too. Some just slightly taller or smaller than the other. All four had different hairstyles, and were striking an individual pose under the clock.

The boy continued to make his way to reception, remembering different memories he had in this place. He flashbacked.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

' _How did you do on your grades Sam?'_

' _I got one or two C's, mostly D's and E's though.'_

' _Well I got a few A's and B's Sam, ain't that great?'_

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sam had another memory.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

' _Well done on your electronics and ICT results Sam, not so good on the others though.'_

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

He entered reception and walked towards the desk.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

' _So Sam, do you really think what they say about this place is true?'_

' _That this school is haunted?, nah, it's just rumours.'_

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The thief slightly chuckled. He remembered the other kids kept saying this place haunted, mainly because every morning they would find a couple of items misplaced or a mess somewhere or doors would be slightly open and chairs were moved.

He just assumed it was foxes or cats sneaking in. Strangely however, nothing was ever caught on CCTV, even the caretaker when questioned admitted to know nothing.

Sam switched on the computer to access the footage, but what he found was strange, very strange. The whole CCTV system was already offline. This was, weird.

Was this why nothing was ever caught on CCTV? 'No it can't, of course not, ghosts, ridiculous.'

He was stopped mid thought, by a laugh, the giggle of a little girl. He looked to his right, his mouth slightly open.

'No, no that's, I'm just imagining.' he paused. 'But there's no harm in checking.'

He got up and walked out of reception taking his torch out of his bag, and scanned around the hallways. 'This ain't gonna be like that christmas carol story is it? Well I ain't done nothing wrong, well I mean, ah forget it.' he scowled in his head.

'Getting real tired of this' the boy thought again just as he heard another small noise behind him.

He decided it must've been a mouse or something, and sat down by the lockers in the room by the hall. The only noise was the grandfather clock ticking. He glanced at it and then back at his stomach when it growled again.

'Oh shut up' he whined in his head.

It was a few seconds before the realisation came over him however. Turning his head he glanced back at the large grandfather clock, and the statues of the little girls. They were not there.

After slowly standing up and walking towards the old device, he felt himself starting to shake slightly, and not because the temperature was low.

He considered maybe they had just fallen, but quickly dismissed it, since if they were statues, they would be attached to the structure.

They were statues, weren't they? A small scuttle noise was quickly made around the corner, but Sam heard it perfectly. "Who's there?" Sam called out but regretted doing it instantly. He had just given his position away.


	2. The statue girls

The noise stopped as soon as he said that, and he quietly stepped to the corner and peered round. Nothing. He shone his torch down the corridor and walked slower than usual, checking his back while doing so.

He heard the faint noise again, and it came from the bottom of the lockers, to his left. He peered down, shining his light, he saw nothing. He sighed a relief first, until even though it was quite dark, he saw a quick movement out the corner of his right eye.

He jerked round and so did his torch, but as soon as he did, he jumped back slightly and gasped at the same time. In his torch light, standing there with her arm shielding her eyes from the light, was one of the little grey statue girls, as alive as ever, no bigger than a hand, standing in front of him.

Both at the same time let out a short scream and Sam's first instinct was to flee, at least he tried to because he tripped as soon as he turned around. Sam shone the torch back onto the statue girl, as human's feared what they couldn't see. Especially unknown things they couldn't see.

He was met with then, which he expected but it still shocked him, was the other three statue girls that came to the other's side. "Pearl what is it?" the tallest girl asked the smallest girl after she screamed. The girl then looked to what the other was looking at, and let out a short high pitched scream herself.

"Who is he?" another statue girl asked.

"How did he get in here?" the third asked. They all had high pitched little girl voices and started to hold each other. Sam quickly got to his feet, keeping his eyes on the miniature girls, although the instinct to run was beginning to leave.

"What, What the hell are-, what are you? No no you're not real!" Sam dismissed despite the visual evidence given to him.

"He's denying our existence, do you think he's escaped from somewhere?" One of the girls asked worriedly.

"I don't think so, not many humans know that we can move around."

Thanks to the conversation the iphone sized girls were having, Sam was becoming a little calmer and started to get his voice back. "You, you statue girls, are real? You're alive? But, but that's not-" he stepped a bit closer to the girls which startled them and began to run down the other way of the corridor.

While still scared, curiosity was now becoming his dominant emotion, and Sam glanced at the clock and then back at the end of the corridor. Investigating was the best option right now. He knew he could catch up to them easily since he was much taller, but they had the advantage of hiding thanks to their size. He ran in the direction of the girls and stopped, figuring he must've caught up to them by now. He relied on the sense of hearing, and listened for any slight sound. It was then he heard a small scuffle from a shelf of books inside the nearest classroom to him.

He peered and slowly walked in, towards the bookshelf. "Hello?" was all he could think to say. Gently pulling away some of the books, with his torchlight, he found the strange little grey girls, all shielding themselves with their tiny arms. They looked up, and all Sam could do was stare at them, trying to process what he was looking at.

Finally one of the girls spoke up, quite timidly "Who, who are you?"

There was a pause, and the intruder felt as if he should say something. "S-Sam" was all the boy could say. "Who, are all of you? And how are you all, well, like this?"

"What do you mean?" another statue girl asked.

"You're, well, alive" Sam pointed out, speaking rather slowly.

"Well, I guess we're alive in the same way you are" the same girl replied.

"Has it always been like this?" asked Sam curious, since he himself went to this school for five years.

"Several decades we've been 'like this' maybe. A century even, I can't keep track." another girl admitted in an innocent tone.

The tension was dying down now, although Sam was still having a hard time believing what he was staring at. "You're alive, all this time. Is that why every night things happened to be misplaced or moved?"

"Yes we, tend to forget sometimes to put things back or tidy up after we've finished playing. We're just having so much fun that we don't have enough time to put things away when the sun rises?"

"Sunrise?" asked Sam.

"We're only alive, as you put it, until the sunrises and after the sun sets. We have to head back our places during the day."

"Wait, girls, have we switched on the Christmas lights yet?" one of them asked.

"Oh no we haven't" the same girl who was just talking to Sam giggled. "We'd better go do that, especially tonight."

Clearly not afraid of their new 'guest' anymore, the miniature girls dropped down to the floor as if the conversation with him never happened.

Sam, wanting to believe this was just a dream, looked out the doorway of the classroom to see the girls walking towards the main hall. By now the thief's pupils had dilated and there was no need for the torch. He zipped it back up in his bag and proceeded to follow the girls. He caught up with them easily, trying to think of what to say.

"So um, girls, uh,"

"Oh, Sam" one of the girls remembered as they all turned around. "How rude of us." The tallest of the tiny girls pointed out. "Let us introduce ourselves" she offered. "I'm Christina." She pointed to the other girls "That's Brenda, that's Isabel, and the smallest one's Pearl, but you've already met her."

Each of them said hello to him after their names were said. "Do you want to see the Christmas lights with us?" asked Brenda innocently.

Normally Sam would not be interested with anything to do with Christmas, but the unusual-ness of his situation prompted him to say "uh, sure."

"C'mon, it's in the main hall, we make it look so beautiful every year!" Isabel proclaimed happily, and although she was completely grey, her eyes seemed to be glinting.

"I can't wait!" Brenda exclaimed smiling and started to run towards the hall.

Sam was walking slower than normal in order for the statue girls to keep up with him. Pearl however was curious about this new face. She started a conversation. "So Sam, how did you get into this school then? Not many humans come to this school at night." she sweetly asked the boy who paled her in size.

"Oh, well" he had to think of something. Some quick excuse. "I, just got lost on my way home, I needed somewhere to shelter till morning." Sam made up not wanting to tell the truth. "I climbed the fence and found an unlocked cellar door here."

"Your family must be very worried about you" Christina frowned.

'They haven't been for two years.' thought Sam. "Yeah, I suppose" he replied.

"You must stay here tonight then, you can't go out in that storm." Isabel pointed to the window which screened a display of ferocious snow falling.

"Haven't I seen you somewhere?" Pearl suddenly spoke.

"Um, what do you mean?" Sam asked starting to become nervous.

"It'll come to me" she shrugged.

"C'mon girls!" Brenda called out excitedly, already holding the hall door open despite possessing a small hand. As all the grey statue girls ran towards the hall, the intruder stopped himself and put his hands in his head.

'What is this?' he questioned. 'This can't be real. I'm, I'm just hallucinating from the hunger that's all.' He walked to the window and tried to see beyond the snowstorm and the lights in the distance, but it wasn't Christmas lights he was interested in, it was the blue flashing police lights, and although they were distant and if he made a run for it, a strange person running through the streets at night would look suspicious to nearby residents. For some reason, and one that was beyond him why, he stepped into the hall where the statue girls were still moving around very lifelike.

"What kept you Sam?" Christina called him over welcomely. Each girl was busy fiddling with the wires of the lights of the tree, which to them seemed like vines in a jungle. Each bauble almost scaled the girls as they leaped passed each one. They jumped down once finished with Brenda slid down the main trunk of the tree like a pole.

"All the other lights are trimmed around the hall now" Isabel informed.

"Alright then, Pearl, you can put the plug in now." Christina called over.

Pearl, who was near to Sam, was holding a plug above her head, similar to the way African women carry buckets of water. She seemed to struggle and almost fall over under the weight of the plug. Sam wasn't sure to help her or not, but he did know what it was like to struggle on your own. Shrugging he knelt down and put the plug in for her.

"Thank you" smiled Pearl, as she pushed the switch of the socket, which to the girls, was the equivalent to a Christmas light switch on, as the room's colour contrast turned from dark to multi colour and glowing like the famous reindeer's nose. Half the lights switching on and off every second. Although there were other lights lit around the hall, the tree, standing tall, was the highlight of them all. The lights were the icing on the cake to the compliments that the tree already gave the season.

All four statue girls gazed at the tree in awe, as if it were the most awe inspiring thing they've ever witnessed. Isabel seemed to admire her work the most. Sam just rolled his eyes just before his stomach growled once more.

"Can we go and explore it now?" Pearl asked hopefully speaking up.

"We explore it every night in December Pearl" Christina reminded. "I think we'd better get our guest some food first, he sounds hungry" she turned to Sam.

The boy realised they must've heard him, but was far more interested in what the tallest girl had just said. "You have, food in here?" He hoped he could conjure something out of them.

"Well yes, in the cafeteria" informed Brenda. "I'll lead you there!" she offered running past him. Eventually all the girls were leading him, despite the intruder already knowing the in's and out's of this school.

"You really don't need to lead me there girls, I used to go here."

"That's where I've seen you before!" Pearl realised. "You were a student here weren't you, two years ago! I never forget a face."

"Okay yeah, I was a student here, but like you said, I left two years ago" he told them.

"What are you doing now?" Pearl asked.

"Oh well, I'm," Sam quickly tried think of something "I, work in a shop, just, minding till's, stacking shelves the usual" he lied.

"Are there lots of decorations in that shop?" asked Isabel looking up.

"And lots of games?" continued Pearl.

"And other fun things to do?" Christina asked the final question before they reached the cafeteria.

"Yeah, I suppose there are" Sam figured.

The cafe door was locked the window above was slightly open.

"Um, does anyone mind giving me a boost?" Brenda asked, volunteering herself to open it. Sam knew he was the only one tall enough, so he knelt down so she could step on the palm of his hand, and he proceeded to lift her up high to the opening.

"Thanks" said Brenda before jumping through the window and landing perfectly on the lock by the handle despite being small. She turned the lock and jumped on the handle opening the door for the rest.

Something then came to Sam's mind. "Wait, will there be any food in here? I don't think the staff would leave food in here over the half term?"

"In the freezer they do" replied Christina.

"Yeah, typical school. But, you would just give to me?" Sam asked slightly confused. He never had met anyone in years who had just welcomed him in so easily, and then just feed him like that.

"Well we can't certainly can't eat any" Pearl chuckled.

"C'mon girls!" The four of them immediately leaped up to the tables and counters behind the kitchen and began opening several drawers and cupboards, creating more noise than desirable. As usual, Christina, the tallest statue girl, gave the orders. "Let's get the pots and pans out and the cooker on. Let's cook up some-, what would you like Sam?" she turned to face him.

The fact that he was almost starving and usually had to face some sort of challenge for food first, it wasn't surprising his answer was "Anything."

"Hm, chicken sounds good" Christina suggested joining her sisters.

Whilst they were going crazy like workaholics with the grill pans in the kitchen, the teenage boy sat down at a table and began to think things over. It was too obvious now that this was not an hallucination of hunger. How would he know there would be food in the freezer if he was imagining this? This _was_ actually happening.

'So all this time, they were, are alive. Every night. Am I the only one to discover them? I suppose it's better than being completely alone in a school at night. But, was it them who switched off the CCTV?' he wondered.

After ten minutes, a plate of cooked chicken in gravy with a side of peas and a placed knife and fork was carried over by all four girls over to their guest. They placed it in front of the boy. "Here you go" Pearl set down the cutlery.

"Hope you enjoy" smiled Isabel pushing the fork closer with her foot. And Sam, eyes lighting up at the most food he had seen in months, was about to dig straight in, grabbing the knife and fork. But, he looked up at the girls, and remembered they had made this for him.

"Uh, thank you, for this." he smiled slightly. He finished the food in only five minutes, savouring the only meal he didn't steal for. The feeling of finally satisfying the growing pain in his stomach was the greatest he'd had all night so far.

"You must've really been hungry" observed Isabel. "When was the last time you ate?"

Sam ignored this question, but he did remember something the smallest statue girl had said earlier.

"Um, Pearl, is it? You said you reconsigned me as a student, but you all said you're only, 'alive', at night?"

"We can see sometimes during the day, kinda like a dream, but it's very rare, we still can't move" explained the girl. "I always wanted to know why."

Another question was brought up again in Sam's mind for the small grey girls sitting cross legged in front of him. "About the CCTV in this place, I found it was disabled when I was in reception, did you girls do that?" He didn't exactly expect clock decorations to be master hackers or anything.

"Oh that wasn't us, John disables it for us each night." informed Brenda.

"John?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"He's the headteacher here. He says it's for our safety. That, what was it he said?" Isabel asked trying to recall. "'Some humans will be too afraid that we're alive'." Christina said it along with her slowly, repeating the headteacher's words.

"That John? Mr Moore?" Sam remembered him. He became headteacher whilst he was still a student at the school. "He knows about you?"

"Yeah, he has for years." Isabel answered.

"Well that explains a lot" muttered Sam resting back. After a slight pause, he brought up something he noticed earlier. The girls seemed to be completely mesmerised by the tree. All of them seemed to look at it with such amazement, and in all truth, he needed something to say. "So, the tree in the hall, you all seemed to have done a good job on that."

"Why thank you" Isabel turned her face away.

"You all seemed to really love it" pointed out Sam.

"Well it's not just the tree" Brenda explained.

"It's what it represents" continued Christina. "Not just the tree, but all the music for instance."

"The cards" Pearl added.

"All the other decorations" furthered Isabel.

"All the food that's cooked, the blankets of snow, the games, the lights, all the hustle and bustle that we've heard the humans talk about, the films and cartoons of Christmas stories, all the cities and hills either decorated in snow or lights" Christina imagined in her head. "But best of all, is the love and happiness all that represents, and that every creature seems to feel and share with another" All of them sighed happily.

"It's all about showing the closest people to you that you love them" Brenda finished.

"That must be nice" Sam muttered.

Despite nearly being sick from all this 'Christmas love' stuff that was alien to him, Sam couldn't help admire their dedication to the season, and was grateful for feeding him, not knowing they could cook.

Little did the group know however, that above them in a dark corner of the ceiling, a creature with multiple eyes, legs, and hair's to accompany them, was glaring at the group of small girls hungrily, and decided to wait patiently.

Said girls were about to pick up the plate but Sam offered "It's okay I'll take it." He picked up the plate and took it back to the kitchen leaving it by the sink.

"We'll wash it another night, c'mon girls, let's see what there is to do in the music rooms" Christina ushered.

"You coming Sam?"

"I, guess" the teen shrugged, thinking of nothing better to do and also wanting to learn more about these small moving statues. Out of pure curiosity of course.

"Allow me" Brenda said before somersaulting her way up to the handle opening the door. The group did not realise they were being followed by the eight legged creature across the dark corridor corners.

 **So yeah, i decided to write a Christmas story for this time of year. I'll try and work on this and my other story as quickly as i can, and try to update as soon as possible for both of them. I thought the fairy tales genre was a suitable one for this story since it's sort of like a modern fairy tale.**


	3. Arca

"Tonight's the night everyone! Christmas comes at midnight, aren't you all excited!" Christina asked.

"We know!" they all giggled.

"A day for family!" exclaimed Pearl.

"What do you think father Christmas is bringing you Sam?" Isabel looked up at him.

"Santa? he isn't-" Sam then remembered the innocence of the four, and while people were trodding on him in the past few years, he wasn't going to do the same to the innocent eyes looking up at him. "Is getting me, hopefully a pet" Sam thought of the most obvious thing for a present.

"What kind of pet?" asked Pearl.

"Um, anything to keep me company I guess."

"Why? Do you get lonely?" frowned Brenda.

"Kinda" Sam admitted. Now that it was brought up, he did fully realise how alone he truly was. For the past two years, it was just him, on that roof of that old building. Nathan was more of a 'colleague' than a friend. He only saw him when they tried to rob some place. He didn't know what would happen with him now though after tonight.

"What about you're family?" Christina asked worriedly.

"My family, they don't really agree with the same things I do and, we do argue a lot." Sam didn't tell them what really happened.

"That's terrible, they should be supporting you" told Isabel.

This made Sam flashback to a day where he brought home his exam results.

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' _This isn't exactly what what we expected is it Sam?" his mother scorned._

' _I tried everything I could, I revised, I studied, I did everything' Sam tried to explain._

' _Well where are these grades going to get you? Nowhere that's what' his dad scolded._

 _'I got some good grades' the boy pointed out._

' _Yeah, you got two' his dad returned._

' _You haven't even got decent english and maths grades' pointed out his mother. 'If you can't get these, what are you going to do? We won't support you or shelter you if you can't get them up by the end of the school year'_

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"Hey, look, we're at the music rooms" pointed out the boy, trying to get off the subject.

"Well c'mon, switch on the keyboards" Brenda jumped up to the plugs once they walked into the room, and switched on the lights straight afterwards. The statue girls climbed up to the keyboards and switched them all on.

"Any suggestions girls?" asked Christina.

"Oh, oh, Driving home for Christmas by Chris Rea?" Pearl added her own suggestion jumping up and down slightly like a student who knew an answer to a teacher's question. They nodded in agreement and began to dance across the keys to perfectly replicate the tune to the song.

Sam noticed that despite the girls spending every night in here, at least he assumed they did, they all seemed to have some sort of knowledge of the outside world. Well this place did have internet after all.

It was then they started to sing the lyrics. Each took a turn in singing each line:

"I'm driving home for Christmas"

"Oh I can't wait to see those faces"

"I'm driving home for Christmas yeah"

"Well I'm moving down that line."

Then they sung together "And it's been, so long. But I'll be there sing this song. To pass the time away, driving in my car, driving home for Christmas. It's gonna take some time, but I'll get there."

They were dancing on the keys with perfect rhythm whilst keeping the tune playing. Pearl was the only one not on a keyboard as she was next to Sam grabbing his thumb with her two tiny hands.

"Come sing with us Sam, please?"

"Sorry uh, Pearl, but that's not really my thing" Sam politely excused. "Is it okay if I get a drink of water?" he asked.

"Of course you can, there's a water fountain across the hall" she pointed to it. Sam thanked her and walked out the room towards it.

And he could still hear them singing. "Top to toe and tailback. I've got red lights all around." They sung individually.

"But soon there'll be a freeway yeah."

"Get my feet on holy ground."

And again, they sung together. "So I sing, for you, though you can hear me when I get through, and feel can hear me, driving in my car, I'm driving home for Christmas."

Sam pulled out an empty bottle from his bag and filled it up before drinking satisfying a much needed thirst. Whilst doing so, he noticed a slightly open window out the corner of his eye. A window he could even possibly escape through. 'This is getting too strange. I could just leave right now, the storm isn't so bad, and the cops are probably elsewhere. I'm sure if I just stay in the shadows, no one will see me.'

He looked back at the room. 'Seems rude to just leave though. Well what do I care? You gotta look out for yourself to survive in this world. But then again, they welcomed in and fed me, but that's just for tonight, it's not like I'm coming back here after-'

Sam suddenly heard a high pitched scream, coming from the music room similar to the screams the statue girls let out when they first saw him. 'Oh what now?' he groaned in his head and ran to the room quicker than usual.

He saw all four grey girls huddled together backing away slowly, from what seemed to be, and quite terrifyingly, a moderately large hairy legged spider crawling towards them. Even Sam jumped aback when he first saw this, it was extremely rare to see something like this in England.

"She's back, she found us!" Isabel exclaimed.

"How did Arca find us? Did she get through a window" shouted Brenda with fear in her voice.

"Run girls, get to safety now!" Christina yelled as the four turned and sprinted as fast as their little legs would allow.

Sam jumped again slightly when the spider gave chase to the girls, hunger in her eyes. The girls seemed to have jumped up to and into the vent in which the spider seemed to follow them in. Sam could hear the footsteps in the vents above him as he came out of the music room, and the terrified voices of the girls.

"Where's John? He normally makes sure Arca doesn't get in!"

"He must be caught up in the storm! Quick we have to find somewhere to hide, keep running!" Christina yelled back.

Sam followed the voices across the ceiling, which ended up going into the hall. The little statues jumped out the vent, which was on a ledge halfway between the floor and ceiling and not wanting to fall that far to the ground, the girls shimmied across the ledge, jumping across to the decorations, and swung through them trying to get away desperately from the predator. Brenda seemed to be the fastet at jumping and swinging around.

Sam managed to get in the hall, despite being tempted by the slightly opened window, and saw the girls jump onto the tree in the tallest branches. The spider was crawling along the wall near the tree, and leaped in the lightning quick way spiders do, onto the lower branches of the tree. Sam ran to the base of the tree and looked up at the scene, hearing the girls.

"Sam! It's Arca!" pointed Christina.

"Arca?"

"It's the spider's name. She's trying to eat us!" explained Pearl from the top of the tree.

"But you're statue's, technically, you're made of stone!"

"She doesn't know that!" replied Isabel.

While looking at the scene of the girls just barely jumping from branch to branch trying to desperately get away from their pursuer, terrified for themselves, Sam remembered back to hours earlier, when he was jumping across rooftops, and swinging through them to save himself from being captured.

But looking at these statue girls whom had done nothing to call in the attention of this creature, he refused to stand by and let them get hurt, by experience and instinct.

Quickly, the boy spotted a wire to pull the curtains to his right. He climbed up the and wall using it until he reached the top near the tree, and desperately looked around for something to use to assist them. There was a long line of tinsel hung across all the way to the other side of the roof. He grabbed it and jerked it until half of it became detached from the ceiling.

"Girls, I'm going to swing by, I want you to grab on to me when I do!" Sam called out.

The girls looked down before looking back at Sam. "But, but we could fall" Pearl said clearly scared.

"You're all going to have to trust me!" Sam called back.

The statues looked back at the spider which was now at their level making her way towards them.

"We're going to have to girls" Christina told her sisters. They swallowed down their fear and prepared to jump as Sam let go of the wire and swung towards the tree.

As he swung past, the girls managed to manufacture the courage to jump and grab a hold of Sam, and when he grabbed a hold of the light on the other side of his line of swing, the girls jumped onto the oblong light.

"Are you girls alright?" asked Sam making sure.

Christina checked the other girls. "Yes I think we're-," she gasped. "Where's Isabel?"

Everyone looked back at the tree worriedly. "I'm over here!" called the remaining girl, hanging on to a branch of the tree. "I didn't quite make it" she tried to explain from the tree, but as soon as she did, she turned to see the spider crawling towards her again.

"Hang on, I'll be there" called Sam as he swung back to the tree. But in mid swing, the tinsel started getting lower and lower as more of it detached from the ceiling under the weight. He didn't realise this until it was too late, and was forced to let go and grab onto the tree, clinging to a bunch of branches. "Isabel, jump onto me!" Sam called up.

She was hesitant at first, mainly from fear, but gave in and did as he instructed. She landed on his backpack on top of it. The spider, Arca, still had her sights set on Isabel, and Sam realised this thing would not go away, and had to do something. "Isabel, go into my backpack, there's a toy net gun in there, hand it to me" instructed Sam.

Isabel zipped open the bag using both her tiny hands and jumped inside, scuffling around until finally finding the object he requested. She climbed back out and Sam reached back for it with his right hand. She handed it to him and he tried to aim at the arachnid. It was just big enough to trap her, and Sam was just barely hanging on with his other hand, so he was a bit shaky, but after an attempt at aiming, he fired deciding it was close enough.

The net was as fast as the spider leaping, and sent it flying down to the lower branches. The net was luckily stronger than the spider itself, and both Sam and Isabel briefly thought the danger was over, until the tree started to tilt and started giving way from Sam's weight. "Isabel hold on!" yelled Sam as Isabel climbed to his front. The whole tree collapsed on it's side and Sam fell backwards straight to the floor, landing on his backpack and slightly hitting his head.

"Isabel! Sam!" Pearl shouted from the top of the light.

Brenda quickly grabbed some old wire above her which was long enough to reach the floor, and tied it around the wire holding the light.

"C'mon" she ushered as the three slided down the wire to the ground. As soon as their feet touched the floor they rushed over to the fallen teenager. Isabel stood up shakily and slid off of the larger being. The others ran up to her.

"Are you alright? Is Sam alright?" asked Brenda worriedly.

"Is he hurt?" Pearl asked in the same worried tone.

"I don't know" Isabel explained, who seemed to be alright herself. She suddenly turned to him "Sam! Sam are you hurt?"

The hurt boy groaned in pain as his back was aching all over as well as the back of his head. He rolled over and tried to stand up. "Yeah" he managed to say painfully. "I'll be fine" he said as got up on one knee.

"Are you sure? Is there anything broken?" asked Christina, worry in her eyes.

"I don't think so" Sam replied rubbing his elbows. "I'd be in greater pain otherwise."

"Are you sure?" asked Pearl.

"Yeah, sure."

"Well, thank you for rescuing us Sam" they all smiled and hugged his leg.

The thief paused, and just quietly replied with "you're welcome."

"Quite athletic" pointed out Brenda.

"Yeah well, I'm not the only one" he smiled back.

He stood up and parts of tinsel and pine leaves made their escape to the floor falling off him. He groaned slightly since part of him still hurt, then looked over to the tree and realised what he had done. "I'm, sorry about your tree girls" his eyes drooped low.

"It is a shame that it is down and all the decorations along with it, but the important thing is you're okay" Isabel smiled.

Now Sam was just as surprised to hear this just as he was when he first saw the girls alive. He always believed that if he ever messed up in some way, he would be berated, or face consequences, even if he wasn't stealing something to live, but something like getting bad grades, even if two of them were good. Never before has someone been worried about him after he made a mistake, not even his parents. He just managed a small smile back to the girl and looked back at the mess. He still had gloves on so he wasn't worried about fingerprints.

"We'd better clean this place up girls" suggested Christina. "We'll start with the fallen decorations; let's pick them up and place them in a group."

"I'd better help you haven't I" Sam offered but was surprisingly stopped by his tiny hosts.

"Oh no no Sam" Brenda said, her hands on his leg to stop him. "You have to rest, you're still hurt."

"Here sit down" Pearl motioned him towards the chair behind him. Sam did so and just decided to watch the federate girls.

"Okay girls" Christina stood on a chair. "Make sure the decorations are all picked up and place them neatly in a plie. Pearl, go inside the tree and see if there are any fallen ornaments inside the tree and place in the pile. Isabel, check over the decorations to see if there aren't any broken ones. Brenda, jump inside the tree and check to see if it's broken."

"I never thought I'd be exploring the tree tonight this way" Pearl chuckled. "Still, at least I get to explore it." She began throwing fallen ornaments out of the tree.

"Um, Christina, we might have a problem" Brenda called from inside the tree and jumped out the branches like a gymnast. "The tree is broken in half halfway."

"Must've been a big fall if a tree trunk broke in half" Sam realised.

"Oh it's not a real tree, it's artificial" explained Pearl sticking her head out.

"Still, it is, was, a beautiful tree nevertheless" Isabel sighed. The girls were now in a line, all staring dejectedly at the fallen decoration.

"Well, like you said girls, it's not the tree itself but what it represents right?" Sam reminded feeling bad and in an effort to cheer them up in some way.

"We know, I suppose the decorations don't make Christmas but mascot it instead. But still, although we fully believe that, having a tree is tradition and, it was beautiful and enticing to look at" Pearl admitted looking back at it.

Even if it wasn't his fault and he didn't face any consequences, for some reason he couldn't stand seeing the girls faces so heartbroken. He had no idea why. He's only just met these statues. But in a way, he took a tree from them. Was this what it was like for people he stole from?

The girls then jumped slightly as they saw something moving to their right. Arca the spider was crawling in the net out of the tree and onto the floor. Sam got up and walked over between the spider and the statues. All four girls ran behind Sam's legs, still scared of the eight legged creature. In truth the boy was hesitant to pick up a net with a real life tarantula in it. "Where do we put it?" he asked.

"Put it outside" Brenda instructed.

Sam hesitantly picked up the net and threw it through the behind stage door, as fast as he could and shut it. "It'll chew out of that net eventually, but you're all safe from it for now" Sam informed them walking back from the stage.

"Can we just make sure that all the windows are closed and there are no holes Arca can get through" Pearl wanted to be sure.

"Well, it's your home, you don't need to ask me."

 **The next chapter in this story, I'll try to get into Sam's character more. Hopefully i'll try and get this story complete before the big day, although I probably won't, nevertheless i'll update as soon as i can. Thanks.**


	4. The art room

"You call that spider Arca?" Sam pointed out eventually, walking alongside his unusual hosts.

"That's her name, taken from the word arachnid" Isabel informed him.

The five of them travelled around the school, making sure there was no way 'Arca' could not get in. When they got to the windows, Sam saw the forest that he jumped across and ran through to escape the police. He had no time to notice before, since he was running for his freedom, but now he could see that the forest was filled to the brim with snow sprinkled trees, and strangely enough, classic Christmas pines.

"I didn't know those types of trees grew around here" he stated.

"They were planted by the year sevens. They're from Norway, the trees that is not the students."

"One of the teachers brought in some Norwegian seeds. they certainly have grown quite nicely."

Sam smiled as he got an idea to make it up to the girls for accidentally destroying their tree. "Say girls" he looked down at them and they looked up. "Ever thought about getting a _real_ tree to stand in the hall?"

"Well I suppose it would be very original and traditional to have a real tree. We haven't seen a real one in, phew, fifty years?" Isabel figured.

"That's a great idea! It's just that the snowstorm is getting worse" Christina pointed out the final window they were closing. "We'll get one after the storm settles down."

Sam noticed before that they seemed to have switched on all the Christmas lights in any room that had them. He even had to admit to himself, the Christmas colours did make the dark, gloomy corridors look like a place of joy and comfort. But he knew that joy and comfort wasn't for him.

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' _So you looking forward to getting that phone you wanted Sam?' a classmate asked._

' _I'm, not exactly getting that anymore' replied the boy._

' _Why? I thought-, oh because of failing the mock exams? Why? They're only mocks.'_

' _I know, but my parents treat it as the real thing. And it's not just that, they won't let me go out to town with my friends to get all the Christmas I need for Christmas shopping, and yet, they still want me to get them presents each.' he sighed. 'Their gifts will have to be from that cheap shop around the corner.'_

' _Gee I'm sorry man.'_

' _Yeah, It would've been nice to be in a friendly atmosphere in the mall, well any friendly atmosphere at Christmas time, for once.'_

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"Sam? Sam?" Pearls voice snapped Sam out of his reminiscing.

"Uh yeah what?" he looked down.

"Why do you have a toy net gun in your bag?" Pearl asked.

Sam remembered that, it was stolen from a toy shop he looted, or attempted to anyway.

"Oh, that was just a Christmas present I received earlier today."

"What about those banknotes?" Isabel wondered.

"Banknotes?" Sam then remembered, he had left several banknotes he took from the antique shop in his bag with other supplies in there. "Those were just for some last minute Christmas shopping" he lied thinking quickly.

"Wow, your job must pay high" assumed Brenda.

'Barely' thought Sam to himself. He remembered the golden coins he took and put in his bag earlier. He really needed them since they were the most expensive things in his there. He was going to have a lot of food with those coins.

"Speaking of Christmas presents, we're right next to the art rooms, why not craft something? Isabel?" Brenda smiled over to her now eager stone sibling.

"How do you know-?"

"Eh, I've known you for more than a century sis."

"Brenda will you kindly-" however, before Christina could finish, Brenda was already jumping up the tables and pulled the door handle down.

"Already on it Christina."

When the group walked into the room, Sam flicked the light switch. He saw that the room contained amateur student models of Christmas figurines and paintings of the season that seemed to catch everyone up in it's fever. Some paintings were good, others were, OK.

The room did not go without it's fair share of Christmas trimmings and accessories. Of course there were other artsy things around the room for the rest of the year. The shelves held figures and sculptures of student and teacher works.

Now Sam had some fond memories of this place, mainly because the art teacher, Mrs Anthony, was one of the few teachers that was kind to him during his time here.

She would always ask him how he was doing and always offered him help when he needed it, and really listened to him.

Sam had heard before that she and her husband couldn't have children, or tried to anyway. But the way she cared for certain students, showed she had the motherly skill, and was sure her husband had the fatherly skill to go along with it.

Sam smiled at remembering how motherly she seemed to him, another thing he considered alien. She left her job when he was in year nine.

"What shall we make? Sculptures, drawings, paper models?" Isabel glistened.

"I think we should let her do her own thing" chuckled Pearl to her sisters.

"You girls do that, I think I'll sit by the teachers desk" Sam excused himself away to the only desk in the room with a computer on it. He decided he might as well entertain himself tonight, since there was nothing else to do for the time being. Whilst switching on the computer, he noticed the girls huddled up together whispering something.

They broke up the huddle with "Okay let's get to work on it." All four of them then dashed in different directions gathering supplies and art tools. He dismissed this as some idea they had to make some pitzy art sculpture.

Plugging in some ear phones, one of his few possessions that were originally his, he logged into a computer using hacking skills he developed ironically at his time at this school, one of the few useful things it gave him, and watched a few Youtube videos to keep him entertained, glad that he didn't have to use an internet cafe this time. Those things were hardly around anymore.

"Sam?" Pearl got his attention.

"Yeah?" he suddenly looked up.

"We've um, been working on something, crafting something just now," Isabel explained as all four girls moved and pulled beside them something soft, which turned out to be a hat. A woolly hat.

"We want to give you this, merry Christmas Sam" Christina smiled.

The guest had a face of disbelief, as he reached for the hat and held it. "A present?" he asked.

"Yeah! We weren't sure which colour to use, hope blue is okay."

Sam didn't know what to think of these girls. They let him in, fed him, treated him as if they've known him their whole lives, now they give him a present just like this out of nowhere. Well he supposed it wasn't out of nowhere as all four of them had a kind and sweet nature about them, and not to mention a naive one.

But this really surprised him. "I've only just met you all, and I haven't given you four anything" Sam amazingly felt slightly guilty.

"Oh what does that matter?" Christina dismissed chuckling. "People donate presents to charity at Christmas time to people they don't even know."

"Yes, people in need but-" okay Sam was someone who did need food and warmth right now but that was beside the point. "But why give it to _me_?"

"Why not? Everyone deserves a present at Christmas" proclaimed Brenda.

"But I haven't got you anything."

"We know. Don't worry about that Sam, you didn't even know we existed before tonight did you" Pearl pointed out laughing.

"Uh, thank you, I guess" he smiled slightly, before something got his attention in the corner of his eye. Something that was moving. The scissors and sellotape on the desk started shifting, as if they were trying to stand up, which caused Sam to jump back in his chair a bit.

"Bet you didn't know they were real either?" Pearl giggled.

"Hello guys" Christina waved.

"Hello girls" the scissors greeted after he 'stood up'. Sam just sat back and watched these things and the girls interact. First statues and now this?

"Up already you girls?" asked the sellotape moving by itself.

"What can we say? We're early risers" smiled Brenda. At this point, the sellotape and scissors turned to see Sam which they reacted the same way he did.

"Whoa! Um, Christina, who is-"

"Oh it's alright, this is Sam, he's sheltering here for the night" she informed them.

"Does John know that he's here?" asked scissors.

"John isn't here yet, we assume he's caught up in the snow storm" replied Brenda.

"Well in that case, welcome to the School Sam" scissors greeted turning to the boy whilst balancing on one handle.

"Uh, thanks" Sam just replied with.

"It's okay, he's been here before, as a student anyway" informed Isabel.

"Oh, well in that case, welcome _back_ " sellotape welcomed. The two living items then jumped down off the desk and started to hop and roll towards the other areas of the art room.

"How many more things are alive in this place?" Sam thought out loud.

"Quite a number of us" Pearl answered his question, and the boy started to notice around the room, how various of things began to move as if they were all waking up from a slumber. A number of paintbrushes, small pots of paint, pencils, models of different art works made by students, people in paintings, and four well crafted models of three fisher boys sat on top of the shelf and were all holding fishing rods which dangled down to the lower shelves.

"Still, I'd to see what life is like outside of this school" proclaimed Pearl, curiosity in her stone eyes.

At this point, some of the brushes and pencils switched on the Christmas lights around the room, giving it a more, comforting feeling.

"If you need anything Sam, just ask us" Christina offered before she and the rest of the statue girls joined the living essentials and started to craft all sorts of Christmassy items.

Sam observed this life filled room in amazement. In one night, he had been on the run, almost arrested, broke into the last place he wanted to hide, and discovered that four statue girls the size of iphones were actually coming to life for about a century now every night, plus all these everyday school objects for god knows how long. And the headteacher was probably in cahoots with all this.

Life was a strange thing at times, literally. He thought this while looking at all the movement around him. Occasionally one of the objects would come up to him and ask him the same thing the scissors and sellotape asked, and he gave the same answer every time. The place was paralleling with a Christmas party right now. Not that Sam would know, he hardly ever went to Christmas parties. His parents went to some by themselves, since it was for the friends of his parents and adult only parties.

But the socialness of the room along with all the decorations just to remind everyone that it was that time of year, and the laughing that was going on between the living objects and the activities that they engaged in with each other, which, even Sam had to admit, looked like a lot of fun for them all.

'Is this what Christmas gatherings are like?' he wondered observing the laughter between the objects. He realised how there was no music however and would guess that a party of any sort would have some music in the background. He looked around for the girls to see if he could make this suggestion.

He couldn't see them at first, until he looked up at the top shelf where the three fishing boys were. Unlike the statue girls, these boys were coloured in, and they weren't made of stone, but instead some sort of modelling clay. Each looked the same age as the girls, although he didn't know how many years they've been here, Sam didn't really acknowledge them when he was here as a student.

Two had brown hair, one with dark blonde, and like the girls, seemed to be slightly older or younger than each other. Each wore typical fishing gear. Sam then noticed Isabel, sat next to the youngest of the three boys, similar to how she was the third eldest of the four girls. They seemed to be talking.

"Have you caught anything on those hooks yet?" she asked.

"Not yet, but soon I'll have all the contents of the bottom shelf to, my shelf" he said that last part deliberately, causing Isabel to giggle.

"What do you do with the things you catch?" she wondered.

"Well I just mainly catch paper and old bits of sellotape's, well, tape. I hope that's okay?" he called down to said object.

"Yeah it's fine, you're just getting my dandruff" the sellotape called back.

"So I craft small paper aeroplanes that I throw down from there" he continued explaining. "Which would you say is better, glue or sellotape?"

"Oh definitely sellotape, although glue's easier to handle."

"Maybe I should fish for pritt sticks instead" he joked making Isabel giggle again and started to fiddle with her stone hair with one of her hands, despite it being fixed to her body.

"Still, I wish I could fly on one of those things outside."

"Really James?" Isabel asked, calling the third fisher boy by his name. "You know I made one once, a big one, but like usual I had to get rid of it though so the school wouldn't suspect anything."

"Well that's not fair, especially for you Isabel, you're amazing at this sort of thing."

"Really? you think I am! I mean, am I?" she might've said that first part a bit excitedly.

"Of course, out of all all the people I know, you definately are."

Isabel would've blushed if she wasn't all grey. She turned her face away and smiled "Thank you James."

"Isabel?" Christina's voice called to her sister and Isabel looked up, slightly disappointed that her sister had to interrupt right now.

"We really need your expertise Isabel, we can't happily wait for you any longer-"

Just then the eldest of the three fisher boys, named Andy, waved to her "Hello Christina."

"Oh, Andy, um, hello" she waved back starting to become slightly nervous herself.

"Quite a gathering we have here tonight, plus a new guest I see" the eldest fisher chuckled.

"Oh, yes, that's Sam, he's here for tonight" Christina explained sitting next to him. "So anything caught tonight?"

"Just the spirit of season" he laughed which made Christina giggle too putting a hand to her mouth. "I wish we could catch something properly though" he hoped.

"Maybe tonight's the night" encouraged Christina.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Boys, aim your fishing rods slightly right, lower them 30 degrees, and cast now" the fisher boys followed his orders and hooked their lines on one large sheet of paper.

They tried to pull it up as best they could, but it was too heavy for the modelling clay-made fisher boys, they had to force the hooks out of it. "Darn I thought we really had something there" sighed the second fisher boy Bill.

"Don't worry bro, one day" Andy assured. "What's that next to you anyway?"

"What this?" Bill picked up some glittered paper one in the shape of a flower and an unfinished flower, which he moved to the side and continued to look at something down on one of the tables.

Christina looked in his direction, and noticed her sister Brenda doing somersaults from table to table, occasionally greeting the moving objects she passed. Christina grinned and looked to Bill.

"I'm sure she'll love them" she assured.

"How did you-? Uh, yeah, I hope so" said the fisher boy.

"Well of course, if there was anytime to give them to her, it'd be now right?" Andy chuckled making Christina smile as always. "Oh wait, I think I got something" he realised as he tried to pull up his hook. And what he found was a piece of mistletoe attached to the end of his line.

"That's strange how did that get on there?"

Christina looked down to see her youngest sister waving at her and winking. "Pearl!" Christina exclaimed in a whisper all embarrassed.

She turned back to Andy and realised the mistletoe between them, and both blushed at the awkwardness.

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but could we, have some music or something?" Sam wondered holding the speaker controller.

Slightly relieved, although had to admit disappointed a little, Christina smiled "Of course Sam."

"Ooh, ooh, can I see what music there is on YouTube?" Pearl didn't wait for an answer and headed straight for the computer. Sam just groaned at her curiosity.

 **Another update everyone! All characters belong to me.**


	5. The outside shed

The supposed juvenile sat at the desk of the computer with a bored expression, resting his head on his hand, whilst the little stone girl pushed the mouse from side to side, before jumping on the keys of the keyboard to type in the words.

"What song should we play? There's so many."

"Why not just put on a playlist?" Sam suggested halfheartedly hoping to end her questioning.

"Playlist?"

"Yeah a stream of music." Geez, for as intelligent as these girls seemed to be, they didn't half ask some simple questions. "It's basically a list of songs that will automatically play if you have this icon on" he explained to her.

"That's, so convenient" she smiled looking up at the screen. "Ooh, the speakers" Pearl remembered.

"Don't worry" Sam pressed a button on the remote that controlled them, and the music played.

"Now isn't that more festive?" Christina smiled.

Pearl jumped off the desk and joined the others. Being Christmas music, Sam wasn't too impressed. But because he had nothing better to do, he gazed around at all the objects interacting with each other. Some were dancing, either on their own or with another. He couldn't help but notice how upbeat the music was. Some of the objects were telling jokes, some playing charades. Brenda was showing off to the others across the tables and Isabel and the third fisher boy were dancing together. The boy had to admit, the atmosphere had turned from a cold dark classroom, into a lively, colourful, and just generally positive atmosphere. He had never himself been to a Christmas party, and wondered if they were all like this. Probably not.

All the objects and the girls seemed to be occupied, so he quietly slipped outside the door and into a hallway. He sighed and shook his head. Walking up to a window he managed to see completely past the snowstorm as it was starting to die down a little. And by now the police cars had completely gone.

'Good, hopefully I can make my escape soon. Maybe some shops are still open and I can buy something.' Though that seemed kind of pointless now since the girls had fed him. 'But I still need more for the future.'

He looked into the main hall and saw the fallen Christmas tree, and although not intentional, he had made it fall. And the girls weren't angry at him at all, since it was to save them, so why did he feel guilty? He sighed 'I can't leave yet, not until, not until I've replaced that tree-'

"Sam?" a tiny voice spoke behind him, and he quickly turned around a little startled to see the little Pearl standing on a radiator next to him. "I was wondering where you had gotten too" she slid down a pipe like a surf board to a nearby table.

"Uh, yeah. Shouldn't you be in there enjoying your little, happy Christmas party and dancing, or whatever it is you do" Sam brushed off.

"Don't you like it in there?"

"Parties, aren't really my thing Pearl."

"You don't have to dance you know" she put her hands behind her back and swayed back and forth.

"It's not the dancing-, look, I said I'd get you a real tree right? So how about you show me where an axe is so I could cut one down. Then again being a school you probably don't have-"

"Oh we do. Out in the shed, on the other side of the school" Pearl informed.

"Huh, well could we go there and get it?" 'The quicker I get one for them the quicker I can leave' he thought.

"I could, but we lock all the doors leading outside at night remember? Because of Arca."

'Or people like me.' "Well there's a cellar door that's still unlocked. Remember how I got in?" Sam asked.

"Oh right, c'mon I'll show you where it is. It'll be good to see the objects in the shed again." She leapt into his coat pocket and the welcomed intruder started walking to that same cellar where he originally broke in.

Once outside, Sam felt Pearl clutch onto his coat tighter and started looking around quite nervously. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's just, well, Arca's out here, and-,"

Sam remembered. "Oh, just, stay with me then. She won't get you when I'm here." Sam shook his head. Why did he say that in that tone?

He pulled his coat up on his shoulders a bit, being back outside in the cold. It was still snowing, but very lightly now. The statue girl directed him to the shed. "Okay, here it is."

"How do we get in?" Sam noticed the padlock.

"Hm, I think I can fit through that tiny gap in the door, because they keep a spare key inside the shed."

As Pearl jumped down and squeezed through the gap, Sam had an idea. He listened to Pearl rustling around for the key and decided to use this time to take out some tools from his bag and pick at the lock. He had done this a hundred times and like all the others he succeeded. The door opened which surprised Pearl. "Oh! How did you-"

"Ah, the padlock's slightly broke" Sam lied. "Now where's that axe?" he switched on a light. As soon as he did, and to not much surprise, other objects in the shed seemed to 'wake up'.

"Ah, who opened the door? It's freezing" a tired plant pot complained.

"Isn't it Christmas eve tonight? That's the one before the day isn't it?" a shovel asked.

"I like how we just got up as soon as the light came on, how cliche" commented a garden frog decoration.

"Hey everyone!" Pearl waved standing on a shelf.

"Oh hello Pearl."

"Yeah hello Pearl" all the objects half heartedly greeted.

"Is that Pearl?" an elderly garden gnome woman adjusted her glasses.

"My it is, where are the other three?" an elderly garden gnome man next to the gnome woman wondered.

"Oh they're back in the art room" the little statue climbed up to the shelf they were on.

"Well come here my dear, it's been a long time." The old gnome woman hugged the girl and the old gnome man did the same.

"Wait a second, he's new. Where's he from?" the plant pot questioned.

"This is Sam. Long story, sheltering here for the night, going to chop down a real tree for us!" Pearl exclaimed excitedly.

"What happened to the one in the hall?" asked the shovel.

"Oh, Arca happened. But Sam saved us. The tree was knocked over and it broke in the process."

"Well what a splendid thing you did my dear" the old gnome woman complimented.

"I don't understand why you just haven't trapped that spider?" a pair of hedge trimmers wondered. "Surely there's enough of you in that school?"

"John has laid traps for her, but she's a clever arachnid, sees past all of them, and she only attacks us when we're on our own" Pearl told him.

"You'll get her, with the right skill" commented the decoration frog.

Sam stood there with a posture that made him look like he was becoming impatient, which he was, but he hoped no one noticed. Pearl continued talking, and sort of went off on a tangent asking all the objects how they have been since the last time she saw them. Sam just decided to look for an axe himself, looking around for one, and preferably one with a long handle and an iron head. More efficient.

He spotted one in the corner and moved over to it. 'Not as long as I hoped, but it'll do.' Whilst the others were busy gossiping with Pearl, Sam accidentally woke up screwdriver lying next to the axe.

"What? Oh, it's morning, well, night then, I think. Hang on, a human? What are you-?"

"Relax, those statue girls let me in, the others are fine with it" the boy assured.

'Look at me, I'm talking to a screwdriver.' He rolled his eyes.

The screwdriver of which, seemed to have a crack on it's handle and duct tape over it. It was standing up on it's flathead looking at him. Sam had found it hard to talk and listen to an object, let alone ones with no faces, but he was slowly now adapting to it.

"You don't mind if I borrow this axe do you? It's just that I promised the girls," Sam sighed as if he was almost ashamed to admit it "I promised them I'd cut them down a real tree."

"Well I don't know why you're asking me" replied the screwdriver. "You came in here to take one, so take one."

"Yeah but it's not mine." Sam realised what he said, and shook his head. "It's not alive is it?"

"Of course not it's an axe" the screwdriver dismissed. "Alive" it mocked.

Sam just raised an eyebrow and then sat down next to it. 'Why don't I just take it?' he wondered to himself, before looking at Pearl and the other objects, gossiping and catching up with each other. The way family who haven't seen each other in ages would do. They would occasionally laugh and chuckle, and it made Sam think back to when he visited his relatives with his parents for the holidays.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

 _Sam was in another house which was full of people who were talking and chattering to each other. He sat in an arm chair in the corner of the room, drink in hand, trying not to be noticed. "So how is school Sam?" one of his grandmothers asked._

" _Oh, I'm, getting along" Sam put on a smile. 'Here we go' he thought, quite worried._

" _Your mother said you weren't getting the grades you wanted?"_

" _Well there are still some exams left to go so I suppose I could get some other grades then" he figured politely._

" _What about finding a part time job? Have you got one?"_

" _I've, been on a few interviews, no one's come back to me yet."_

" _Oh. Well I'll best see how the others are doing." His grandmother left and went to talk to the other family members. Sam looked up and saw his grandmother with his grandfather, dad, and mum. He saw them shake their heads and roll their eyes in agreement. And although Sam couldn't hear them, he knew exactly what they were complaining and agreeing about, and all he wanted to do was just shrink himself in that seat as much as he could._

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Sam?" he heard a tiny voice which brought him out of his flashback. It was Pearl. "Could we go and get a tree now?" she asked hopefully.

Sam remembered. "Yeah, yes of course we can." He stood up and grabbed the axe quite quickly and seemed to be in a hurry. "Well, nice meeting you all" he halfheartedly proclaimed.

"Go on my boy, young Pearl's been looking forward to a new tree" the old gnome man informed.

"See you kid, feel free to come back anytime" called the shovel.

"Yes, I suppose, you're welcome back here too boy" said the plant pot.

"Um, thanks" Sam hesitantly said walking out of the shed. Pearl jumped into his coat pocket.

"Bye everyone" she waved.

"Bye Pearl!" they called back.

The human and statue girl started to make their way back to the cellar door and exited through. "Sorry about making you wait Sam, I was too occupied catching up with them all."

"It's fine." Sam continued walking for a few seconds, the only noise being his crunching footsteps in the snow. He glanced at the school for a while, remembering what the terrible badly taught lessons were like, the miserable teachers, the peer pressure as a result of putting hundreds of children in roughly the same age group together in one space. A hint of anger flashed in his eyes, but then, curiosity. "Pearl, can I ask you something? Do you ever get criticism from them? I don't just mean the objects in the shed, but the other objects in general? Your sisters as well maybe?"

The stone girl thought for a second. "Hm, I've been told not to wander off before, or to break things."

"And, are they malicious with it? With their attitude?" the boy curiously asked.

"Actually, they always have a tone like they want me safe, or to improve. And I know they do, especially Christina, and John. I suppose as long as they're not condescending with their tone or forming it as a complaint, I don't mind" she shrugged.

"Lucky you" he muttered. "I was talking to that screwdriver, back in the shed" he begun a conversation.

"The screwdriver? Oh yeah he's nice. A bit odd, but that's how John found him" Pearl remembered.

"Found?"

"He wasn't with us originally. John found him on the side of the road, all broken, and since he needed a new screwdriver he duct taped him together, and the guys in the shed accepted him."

"Does he like it here?"

"He didn't trust us at first, given what the people who owned him before did, but he's a happier tool now more than ever!"

"You just accepted him in like that?"

"Well they had to make sure he was a safe enough character first. That he wasn't going to come in and harm us, destroy anything or steal for that matter" she laughed.

"Yeah, that would be very inconvenient wouldn't it?" Sam nervously chuckled.

"It can see why he likes it here though" the girl rested her small head on her tiny stone hand "But still, I would like to ask him one day, what life is like, y'know, out there" she extended her arms referring to the other side of the school fence. "I don't think I've ever left this building. The only glimpses of it I get it's what's on the computers. I admit, I envy those students who get to go home everyday."

Sam didn't reply, not having a very positive view on life himself, he didn't want to disappoint her.

After entering via the cellar door, they walked back up the stairs to try and find the other statue girls. "Now, if we can just find my sisters, and-"

"Boo!" the three other girls jumped out.

"Ah! Girls!" Pearl exclaimed to her giggling sisters. Sam just stood there unfazed. Bigger things frightened him.

"Sorry Pearl, but after we realised you'd gone out, we just couldn't resist" Brenda chuckled.

"How did you know we'd be here?" Pearl asked.

"Sam said the only door that was unlocked was the cellar door, remember?" reminded Isabel.

"Anyway" interjected the human. "We've got an axe, the storm's cleared up, how about we cut that tree down now and get this over with- I mean, decorate the hall?"

"We're doing that now?" the other three girls gasped excitedly. "What are we waiting for?" Brenda, Isabel and Pearl ran into the cellar enthusiastically.

Christina chuckled "Oh do excuse them."

 **So I'm having a go at this old story again. Last time I updated was on the sixteenth last year I think. I didn't manage to finish it for Christmas however, apologies again for that. But this year I'll try to. I did have some writer's block for this story and quite worried that it might be a bit boring. I'll make it as entertaining as I can. I also polished over the first four chapters as well as I didn't think they were that well written. Anyway thanks. This story and it's characters belong to me.**


	6. Snowball fight

The four statue girls made and jumped their way to the top of the stairs where they waited for Sam to open the cellar door, and also they didn't want to be alone when Arca was still out there somewhere. The teenage boy walked up holding the axe, and all four girls jumped into his coat pockets. Walking outside, the other girls could see that the storm had cleaned up nicely, and the whole school and it's grounds were covered in a blanket of snow, untouched by any person, animal or, object in this case.

"Okay, so where were these trees again?" Sam asked, as he couldn't remember where he was in the school when he first saw them out the window.

"Just around these buildings, near the school's gardens" Brenda directed.

'Of course' Sam thought.

The girls tried their best to hold in their excitement, as it had been ages since they had a real tree. Chatting and giggling amongst themselves about how they looked forward to it. And eventually they arrived to the fully grown Norwegian pine trees planted by the students. "Are you sure no one in the school will notice one missing after the holiday?"

"Don't worry, we'll just get John to explain or something" Christina assured. "Now c'mon girls, we gotta a tree to pick!" All four of the moving statues jumped down, leaving tiny footprints in the snow as they ran, huge smiles on their faces.

"Hey not too far girls, that spider of yours could be in one of these trees" Sam called out.

"We won't go far, besides you'll protect us, won't you Sam?" Pearl smiled up at him.

He looked down at the innocent stone face whom he had just been talking to when they were outside before. "Yes, I will" he sighed and the girls started darting around to examine the pine trees. Sam just shook his head, surprised at not wanting the girls to be caught by that spider, actually fearing for their safety. Four little innocent people like them, placing their trust in a thief like him. It actually made him feel a pang of guilt. Cutting a tree down for them was the least he could do anyway.

Sam did have to admit, now that the storm had cleared up, the snow on the branches of the trees, some of it occasionally sprinkling off, did look rather beautiful, even in the middle of a school ground. The type of scenery you would only find in other parts of the world, or on christmas cards at the very best. It covered the trees like icing on a cake, and it almost made him feel bad that he was cutting one down. Ah what was he thinking, it's just a tree. Trees that the statue girls seemed to admire so much.

"What about this one?" Brenda had already climbed to the top branches of one tree. One that had particularly a lot of branches. "More branches, more ornaments to hang."

"I feel like it should be one like this, one that's tall and the same size as the one in the hall. You know, so it doesn't look like anythings changed" Christina reasoned standing under a tree that practically dwarfed her.

"Perhaps something a little less obvious that one's missing" Sam half heartedly suggested.

"Well since it has to be at the back of the group of trees, plus the right size for the hall, and has to be perfectly symmetrical along with enough branches for the decorations, I'd say, that one" Isabel pointed to a tree that glistened against the christmas moonlight, right at the back of the group of planted pine trees.

The other girls stared up in awe at this perfect beauty of nature. It seemed as if it was grown just for them. They smiled at each other and all of them darted towards it, laughing of course. "Sam we found one! We found one!" they called out. Sam followed, carrying the axe over his shoulder shaking his head.

"When was the last time we did this?" Christina wondered.

"Doesn't matter, we're doing it now aren't we" figured Pearl excitedly.

"I feel like Christopher and Holly right now" expressed Brenda.

Sam looked on at the excited statues. He had seen families do this before, taking the children out into a snowy wood at night to cut down a tree. He had seen it in all the films, he had seen it himself when walking home from school actually, when he walked past the woods and would fathers or older brothers cutting down the tree for their relatives. His family never did that. They always had an artificial one. He and his family hardly went anywhere for Christmas except to see a few relatives.

He arrived at the tree where the girls were already and were waiting eagerly for him to cut it down. "Well then, you might wanna move out the way" Sam steadied the axe.

"Which way are you going to cut it?" asked Pearl.

"Well you have to make sure it falls in a direction with nothing in it's way, and I suppose in a way where it would be the easiest to carry back." Sam walked around the pine tree when he stopped and stood in a chopping position. The statue girls observed how he swung and the accuracy at which he cut. The tree was down in minutes. Sam wiped some sweat from his brow, despite being in the freezing cold.

"Phew, I'll never know why people do this, huh girls? Girls? Where are-" he couldn't see them at all. There was just a fallen tree with twice as much snow on the ground. He then spotted four bits of snow shaking itself, interrupting him.

"Wow, where did you learn to cut like that?" Pearl shook the snow off her that had clearly covered all the girls.

"I uh, was in a scout group when I was younger. They teach you things like that."

"Ah, is my hair okay?" Isabel started brushing off the snow as quickly as she could.

"Isabel you're a statue, your hair has stayed the same since we were first carved" Brenda reminded her, stifling a laugh at her sister's distress.

"Never been in a snowball fight before Isabel?" Sam jokingly asked.

"Snowball fight? Why I wouldn't-" Isabel was cut off when she felt a patch of snow hit her again. "Ah!" she turned to see her younger sister giggling. "Pearl! You know I don't want to get involve in this sort of thing."

"Oh c'mon, it's only water. We swim in the school's sinks all the time" Pearl threw another at her sister. Isabel was struck again and she turned to the eldest of the girls.

"Christina make her-" but Christina had thrown a snowball herself at her. "Christina not you."

"Oh it's only a little fun" she giggled.

"Oh you're all asking for it" Isabel started to smile and threw snowballs of her own at the other statues. All four girls began pelting each other with miniature sized bits of snow and used branches of the fallen tree for cover.

Sam leaned on the axe rolling his eyes as if to say sarcastically 'Great.' He had to now wait even longer in the cold for these girls to finish up pelting each other and running around like headless chickens. He did not like the idea of waiting out here any longer. "I hate to interrupt but can we-" he stopped when three of the girls jumped out the tree, still attacking each other, their laughter not ceasing at all. This made him think back a few years, to when he and some of the other kids at the school had snowball fights with the other.

They often would during winter. Snow days were the best, when school was cancelled and he and the friends he had back then would just spend all day throwing the contents of the ground at the other. He'd forgotten how fun they used to be and he always got his mind off the arguments with his family by doing this.

Sam suddenly felt a tiny bit of snow hit the side of his face, and looked over to see Brenda hiding behind a branch of the end of the tree, which was almost level with him since he was standing near the bottom of it. "Got you" she revealed herself.

"Yeah whatever, now could we go back in now?"

"You're not going to be like Isabel are you?" she teased.

"Well she seems to be having fun now" commented Sam.

"Have you ever been in a snowball fight before?" she wondered.

"Loads. I used to have a lot of snowball fights right here in the school with the other kids on days like this."

"Then C'mon!" She threw another tiny bit of snow at him which he didn't even flinch at.

"You know, the snowballs I'll make will be much bigger than yours" Sam warned smiling.

"That's okay it'll just make it more challenging" Brenda smiled and ran off back into the branches.

Sam dropped the axe and picked clumps of snow off the floor and started throwing at the girls, joining in the game. The statues took cover behind large lumps of snow and used the branches in the fallen tree for cover. Sam threw where he anticipated they would run, and he guessed right. The girls were hit with snowballs that were almost as big as them, all except Brenda, who managed to dodge every single one.

The stone girls teamed up on Sam and attacked him with snow from the branches all at once, but due to his size compared to theirs it hardly affected him. He just grabbed the branches of the tree and shook them, causing the girls to fall over and hang on, whilst snow clump by clump fell on them. The statues were pretty much having the time of their lives, and Sam was laughing along too.

He was so reluctant to get involved at first, but now he was more than glad he had joined in. So many memories came back to him during the fight, and he was reminiscing all the way through it.

" _Hey Sam look out!" a voice shouted and Sam ducked as a snowball flew past._

" _You know, you need to work on your accuracy" Sam commented as he formed a snowball. "Especially when you have to hit moving targets." He threw the snowball at the kid who threw one at him but the kid ducked._

" _Sam you missed" he commented, but then realised that the snowball had hit a larger patch of snow on a tree branch above him, causing it to all fall on him._

 _Sam laughed and the kid brushed it off himself, laughing as well. "You might wanna look behind you" he warned._

 _Sam turned to see a bunch of other kids who had snowballs of their own, and some aimed for him. He ducked behind a snow fort and the battle ensued. There was more snow flying around than a heart of a blizzard. It wasn't until the teachers called them back in as the lunch period was over and they headed inside._

Sam wished he could go back to days like that. He never did see those kids again after they all left school. He supposed that this time of year did bring some enjoyable things after all. And in a way, he was doing what he used to do on snow days right now, except with different people. Four people who happened to accept him in as if they had known him for years too.

Just then, he spotted car lights, not too far away from the school, and could see them from where he was standing, and they looked like, they were heading towards the school. Why would a car be coming towards the school this time of night? Unless..

Sam came to two conclusions, either it was that John, the headteacher here who apparently knew the girls, or, someone from one of the neighbouring houses had seen Sam out on the school grounds, and had called the-,

"Uh, girls, I think we should go inside now" Sam urged them, slight panic in his voice.

"Aw, now? But this is so much fun" Pearl complained.

"And what about the tree?" asked Isabel.

"Well, we're going to need help carrying it in now anyway aren't we? So we'd better ask the other objects for help" Sam made up an excuse, his eyes darted back from them to the lights.

"Hm, I suppose. C'mon let's tell the other objects" Christina ushered for them to climb into Sam's pockets.

Sam moved rather quickly but too much so it didn't look suspicious to the girls. It didn't stop them from noticing however.

"You're going quite fast aren't you Sam?" asked Pearl.

"Oh, uh, yeah well I'm just excited is all, like you girls." He kept looking up at the car headlights. It didn't have any sirens on, and from this distance he couldn't tell whether it had sirens at all. A realisation came to him, the way back to the cellar door would be in sight of the car. He had to think of an excuse quick. "Um, maybe we should go around this way to the cellar door, it might be quicker."

"Actually the way we came would be quicker wouldn't it?" Christina implied.

"Are those car headlights?" Brenda then pointed.

'Oh no' Sam thought.

"I bet I know who that is" they all jumped out Sam's pocket and ran towards the gate that was opening.

"No girls wait!" Sam tried to catch them. What if it was the police? They would give him away. He went to catch them but tripped over a pile of snow and rolled down a small hill of it, right in front of the car that had just stopped after coming through the gates. The girls joined him, and they heard the car door open and the sound of someone stepping out.

"Well" it said. "This is certainly a new face."

 **Hey everyone. Yeah I know, this is really, really late and I'm sorry for that. Been busy with it being Christmas and all and having other fanfictions too. This fanfic, just to let you guys know probably won't be finished for Christmas day but will probably be spanned over December, if that's alright, since it isn't that long a story. Thanks for reading guys. Story and characters belong to me.**


	7. The headteacher

All four statue girls recognised the voice and saw who it was when the car headlights were turned off. "John!" they all exclaimed happily running up to him. The old man knelt down and held out his arms for the miniature girls to step on.

"Hello girls. Merry Christmas, how are you all?" the old man chuckled as the girls hugged him with their tiny arms. The man had a big smile on his face, a kind loving smile. Grey hair covering his head and spoke with a soft, uplifting tone.

"Merry Christmas John!" they all said in usion, and bombarded him with questions.

"The snowstorm didn't give you too much trouble did it?"

"You were alright getting here?"

John calmed them down before answering them.

The headteacher of the school, Mr Moore, as Sam remembered. It wasn't the police, which was a temporary relief. But he had no idea what Mr Moore would think or do about him. He honestly thought this was it, as he assumed that 'John' wouldn't be as naive as the girls, and might see through Sam's lies, unless the boy was clever about it. He knew he had some explaining to do now, and got to his feet, feeling a twinge of fear. He could probably be sent to jail this very night.

"Well then" John began, breaking the hug from the girls. "I see we have a newcomer tonight." He spoke with a tone that wasn't angry or shocked or hostile in any way. More with one of curiosity. "And I see you girls have become acquainted."

"Oh yes, John this is Sam, he's sheltering here for the night, after he got lost on the way home. Sam this is John, the headteacher here, although you probably know already" Christina introduced.

"Oh? How?" inquired John.

"He was a student here, he left two years ago, don't you remember him?" Christina teased.

"Can't say that I do. You know, I think this conversation would be better had inside don't you? It's rather cold out" the headteacher suggested ushering Sam to follow him inside. Sam was very reluctant to do so, but what could he do at this point? Run? That would just make it obvious that he was guilty of something. So he just slowly followed the old man back to the school building, feeling like he was being led to a courtroom to be judged.

"And what are you girls doing outside then? You know it's dangerous for you to be out here without me around, with that Arca lurking." John didn't seem cross, but more or less concerned.

"No it was okay John, Sam was with us, he would protect us, in fact he already has" Brenda explained as the group walked through a door that John had unlocked and stepped back inside the school, into a corridor.

"Oh did he?" John grew a slight smirk, wanting to know what they meant.

"Arca managed to get in. She attacked us, and chased us to the main hall and onto the Christmas tree, but Sam climbed up and trapped her in a toy net, before throwing her back out again. We closed any open windows so she couldn't get back in" Christina told him the story.

"That's why we're out here, because in the process the tree in the main hall was knocked down and it broke, so Sam offered to cut down a real tree, grown by the students here. It's around the back, as we've only just cut it" explained Pearl.

John closed the door behind him and removed his scarf. "Hm, seems quite the Christmas eve. Why don't you girls clean up the main hall a bit in that case. I believe I have to acquaint myself with this nice young man here" he smiled letting the girls down from this arms. Sam grimaced a little at those kind words. He of all people didn't deserve them.

"Sure thing John, we'll have it spick and span ready for another decorating" declared Isabel giving a mock salute as the statues ran off trying to contain their excitement.

John chuckled. "Oh they were carved as children and will stay that way for a long time. Quite lovable aren't they Sam?" he turned around to face the teenage boy, who didn't look him in the eye. "They said you were a student here, is that true?"

Sam, still not looking him in the eye, answered "Yes, I left two years ago when I was sixteen." He tried to explain himself. "You see, I was lost on the way home, with the snowstorm and all, and I ended up in here, sheltering, and I found the girls, and-"

"Sam my boy, I think we should head to the office first don't you? It's rather cold in the corridors" John interrupted with a soft tone.

The young man nodded and followed. Being sent to the headteacher's office to explain something. 'Typical' he thought.

The old headteacher opened the door to his office and let Sam in where he stood in front of the desk, John sitting down behind it, putting a pair of glasses on after taking his coat off. "So tell me Sam, may I call you that?"

Sam nodded and the old man continued. "Seems very strange to break into a school to find shelter doesn't it?" he chuckled.

"Look I, didn't know this was a school at first, let alone my old one." Now that part of his story was true. "I, thought it was just an old building."

"You sure received a warm welcome" John smiled at him and gestured for him to sit down. "So tell me boy, what's going on with you in your life? Surely you have a family waiting for you at home? Do you have a phone? Have you called them?"

"I, seemed to have forgotten my phone." Sam was getting slightly nervous at the lies he was making up. At this point he would take talking objects over an actual human any day. The questions that this old man seemed to be leading somewhere. He was without a doubt sure John would see through him.

"I suppose you could use the phone in my office here, to call them. They must be worried about you."

"Well, um" it was getting to the point where he could not come up with anything good to say to ease his way out of this.

"Sam" the teacher then spoke with a somewhat serious but concerned tone, different to the uplifting curious one he had just now. "A few hours ago, I heard that there was a break in at an antiques shop nearby in town. They said that one of the suspects was chased to around this area, but they lost him in the forest. What the police don't know however, is that there is a school located at the end of the forest, this school. And since it was locked up, and because of the fences and no footprints leading to them, they assumed that the suspect did not go this way. Tell me my boy, why did you do it?"

Sam sighed, here it was, John did know, he'd figured it out and there wasn't any point in lying now. "Look Mr Moore, I'm, not exactly in the best position in life right now. Just to let you know, I don't rob places like that for kicks or for the thrill or anything. It's just that I desperately need the money, I don't have a choice. I'm might as well just be completely honest with you."

The boy took a deep breath. The truth and the whole truth had to come out now. "I live on top of an old abandoned block of flats somewhere. I don't have a family, at least not anymore. I haven't spoken with them in two years. Because of my lack of good grades and qualifications, or even a home address, I couldn't get a job, not even a simple cash in hand job. So I did the only I could do to survive, I stole."

He admitted this defeated. "I don't have a home, I don't have any work, I don't have any food. What else can I do?" he was a little angry and frustrated now, and was on the defensive.

John just sat there observing him and taking in every word, before replying himself. "We're their no hostels? No homeless shelters? What about groups like the salvation army?"

Sam shook his head. "I tried finding places like that to take shelter in. But most were already full, and sent me along to the next hostel. But when I got there, it was the same story, and in the next place, and the next place. And the ones that took me in only kept me for a few days. The homeless shelters often refused me, just gave a piece of bread and moved me along. Some were just for women, there were none for men only. Which is ironic since we make up ninety percent of the homeless. And as for groups like the salvation army, I had already committed my first crime before I thought I should see them, and I was too worried about them finding out."

There was a pause and silence contaminated the room after Sam's out pour. The headteacher eventually decided to ask "What happened to you? What made you leave home? Without any work or plan or anything?"

"It wasn't exactly planned. And it wasn't on my own accord" the 'guest' spoke a little softer now. "My parents and I, argued. And they weren't too happy about my progress in school. They weren't doing too well with money themselves, and wanted me to start providing for myself. But no job I applied for hired me. Due to them losing money in addition to the arguments, I was thrown out. They couldn't deal with me anymore they said. I had no plan, just some of my belongings and money. Hell I was lucky enough to find that old mattress in the old apartment building."

"And the other suspect? What about that friend you had in the antiques shop tonight?"

"He's more of a colleague than a friend. I met him whilst breaking into another shop. We became partners since, 'til now anyway." Sam remembered Nathan driving off somewhere with the car, leaving him. But he had to keep Nathan out of this, he knew hard this life could be.

"Incredible" John spoke in the end. "Well not incredible, since what you did was wrong, but all this, because you couldn't get a decent useful qualification from this school?"

Sam decided to let a piece of his mind out. This school was one of the very reasons he was in the situation of homelessness and criminality. And ironically enough, it lead him right back here. Criminals always return to the scene of the crime. "It wasn't just the school, but it was a big culprit. Who thought of the idea of putting hundreds of kids in one place and expecting them to soak everything in?" He stood from his chair, making gestures of frustration with his arms.

"All the teachers were terrible. Well most were anyway. A good teacher changes your outlook on a subject, do you know how many other students I talked to when I was here that were really into a subject but could not follow it because of the terrible teacher? With so many students, teachers can only get around to helping one or two anyway, and ones with behaviour problems take up most of their time." Sam sat back down again. "I hardly learned anything at this school." He glanced up at the old man behind the desk and looked back down at the floor.

He asked "What are you going to do? Are you calling the police? It's just, if you do, could I, I dunno, possibly say goodbye to the girls first?"

John looked the boy over, the end of his glasses in his mouth. He spoke "Mrs Anthony spoke of a student in her art class, when she was still teaching here. She said he was quiet but pleasant to talk to, and never asked for help or never put his hand up."

Sam looked up surprised at those words. Words that had come apparently from his best teacher. He looked at himself as he just acted the exact opposite.

"For someone who can break into a school and avoid the police force, that's some skill, although, not the skills someone should have, especially a young man like you. You do realise you have to return anything you've stolen, and I won't call the police if you do" John proclaimed.

"What? No, you don't understand, I need the things I've, taken, to live, otherwise I'll starve" Sam protested.

John thought for a minute, leaning back in his chair stroking his chin. "I'll tell you what Sam, I'll make you a deal. I want you to do something, and in return, I'll let you go, with everything you have, and I won't call the police."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Why would you do that? What's the catch?"

"Because you're right. This school did not give you the qualifications you needed, and that is partly our fault. We failed you, and I'll make it up to you."

Sam sat up a little, a bit suspicious, but this might be his only option out. "Alright, what is it?"

"I want you to spend at least half an hour with each of the girls, and you must come back and tell me at least one thing about them. For example, what is it they want most? What is their favourite pass time? Come back to tell me that, and I'll let you go with everything, deal?" John smiled, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"That's, what you want me to do? But why? I get that you must've known the girls for a long time, you already know all of this."

"I do. Think of it as a test. I'm the teacher after all aren't I?"

Sam didn't want to question the only way out he had, he decided to just take it, his only hope. "Fine" he agreed. "I'll do that. It'll take two hours but I'll do it if it doesn't get me landed in prison."

John smiled and nodded. "I'm glad to hear it." He stood from his chair and walked over to the radiator. "You must be cold from being out there though right? Here, warm up a bit first" he gestured to the chair next to the radiator he had just switched on. Sam sat down in the chair and put his hands on the radiator.

"Thanks, Mr Moore-"

"John, call me that."

"Um, sure. So John, how long have you known the girls then? They seemed to be pretty fond of you, and they explained a lot too, like the CCTV system for example. You switch that off every night."

John chuckled. "Yes, I can do that from my computer at home." He pulled two drinking glasses out from his desk. "I don't want anyone finding out that most objects in this school come to life." He pulled out a bottle of drink as well.

"Don't people get suspicious about that?"

"I gave an explanation of it shutting down due to energy saving. Normally the high fences stop anyone from getting in, well, apart from you of course."

"The trees the other side of the fence can reach over."

"Hm, true. But no one's broken into this school before you my boy. And yes, I've known Christina Brenda Isabel and Pearl for years. I've worked at this school for a long time you see, a very long time. Back before they had all this technology and security." He poured two drinks. "I first found out the girls were alive back when I was a head of year teacher, I was asked to grab some documents left behind at the school by the then headteacher, quite late at night since they were about finances and important figures."

"And you met the girls that night?" Sam implied.

"Yes I did" John laughed. "And discovered that the other objects can come to life too. And believe me, I was just as shocked as you probably were. But, I warmed up to the girls, they have that effect on you."

"You didn't tell anyone? Oh, but who would believe you" Sam answered his own question.

"As head of year, I was given a key to the school, and came back every night, to prove to myself I wasn't mad. And as the years went by, I ended up coming back every night." John put the bottle back in the desk.

"So you watch over them in a way, turning off the cameras and similar things" Sam figured. "What about that 'Arca' as they call her. A spider like that in this country?"

"I imagine she was accidentally shipped over here. But she's had her eyes on the girls every time she comes near. Unfortunately, she doesn't know they're made of stone, and would probably break them apart in an attempt to consume them" John explained.

"Can't you set up traps or something? Or surely the other objects could catch her?"

"They've tried, but she's a clever spider, only attacks when she thinks the girls are alone. And she avoids every one of my traps."

"A clever spider, that can't tell the girls are stone? Then again the way those girls move around, how could you?" Sam joked quietly.

John walked over and offered him one of the glasses with the drink in it. "It's midnight Sam."

"Huh?"

"Merry Christmas." John handed him the glass of what Sam tasted to be alcohol.

"Yeah, merry Christmas."

 **And a Merry Christmas to all of you too. Although at the time of posting this chapter for me it's past midnight. But nethertheless, hope you all had a great time this year, and I'll be continuing this fanfic until it's finished, and hopefully be done around about new year. I feel like I rushed this chapter a bit, because I wanted to get it out on time, but let me know what you guys think. Anyway, have a merry Christmas, and stay tuned. Story and characters belong to me.**


	8. Decorating and swinging

After the surprisingly relieving conversation with his former headteacher, Sam stepped out of the office, taking a deep breath. John had just promised him that he wouldn't call the cops if he spent some time with each statue girl, to come back with something new he had learnt about them.

There was without a doubt a catch to this, but he didn't have any other option at this point. Besides, he'd already spent some time with the girls for the first half of the night, it shouldn't be too bad. Walking down the corridor he now had no idea what was going to happen to him by the time morning came. Maybe John was just stalling until the police got here? Maybe he tried to lure him into a false sense of security. He really hoped not. He would have to leave without saying goodbye to the statue girls. Oh, and prison, of course.

'Alright then' thought the outlaw teenager. 'Which one of them first?'

The office he had just stepped out of in the corridor was not very far from the school's library, and in fact he was about to step right past it, until however, he saw movement through the window of the library's double doors, and to be quite honest, at this point of the night, the teen wouldn't have been surprised if the entire shelves of books and magazines we're up and about conversing with each other too, but instead, he actually saw the third statue girl Isabel as he peered in. She was busy decorating parts of the large two floor library which seemed to have been forgotten by the school staff.

Pushing the doors open, Sam gave a small mock cough to get the girl's attention.

The stone girl was in the middle of hanging up, or at least trying to hang up some tinsel on the second floor, when she heard Sam's cough and distracted her attention. Unfortunately this caused her to lose her balance and grip on the railings up above, and suddenly plummeted to the first floor.

Panicking slightly, the teen was forced to dive over a table so he could reach his arms out and catch her just in time. Both were breathing from relief as the boy set her down on the table. "Geez Isabel, how many more times do I have to rescue you tonight?" exhaled Sam getting off the table.

"Well you caused me to fall this time, but thanks" the little girl dusted off her stone skirt.

"What are you doin' in here anyway? For most of the night you've been alongside your sisters" the boy asked adjusting his bag on his back.

"Brenda's retrieving some ropes from the gym to pull the tree in later, Christina said she's busy with something and goodness knows what Pearl's up to" the stone girl leapt across the tables towards some wire. "So I thought, since this place was pretty much neglected in terms of Christmas spirit, that I'd give a little, Christmas pazaz" she gestured with her hand before proceeding to climb a few steps up the wall using the wire as a rope. "So why'd you come in here?"

"Huh? Oh, right" the secretive thief then remembered. "Well I saw you in here on your own as I was walking past, so I figured that maybe, I dunno, you'd want some help, perhaps?" he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh no it's fine, I have sellotape down there to do that" she pointed to the object below who got up and waved his tape.

"Hello again Sam!"

"Right, but honestly Isabel, I insist I help you" he turned back to her sounding a little desperate, and hoping she would accept since he needed to find out something about her. It'd be too suspicious if he just asked her straight up.

"Hm, I suppose I could do with a larger pair of hands. Ones that are made of flesh, less likely to break" Isabel agreed continuing to climb.

"Oh we break quite easily" the teen was at least glad she accepted. "I've had a few nasty falls in my time" he stepped up the spiral staircase to meet her.

"Really" she began to poke his arm as to investigate it for herself. "Oh the bones are inside. Sorry, it's a bit hard to tell with all those coats you're wearing." The statue girl regrabbed the tinsel and any other decoration she could carry, wobbling across the desks of the upper floor.

Taking as permission to get started, the boy also took a handful of baubles and ceiling decorations as well as other ornaments. There were little noise activated toys shaped like Santa Clause, Rudolph, a Christmas tree and a snowman.

Several lights which of course were insanely tangled as they always were. Pieces of holly that fitted into small slots, nativity scenes, miniature trees, models of Christmas figures, how many decorations did this school have? It was a good thing he did drop by because there was no way she could've done this all by herself.

And for the next twenty five minutes or so, Isabel would run around completely indulged in what she was doing, though she had to spend most of it on the shoulder of her human company in order to reach the higher places of the book shelves.

She was laughing, giggling, never stopping to rest or leave any shelf bare, instructing Sam all the way where she wanted to go and where to place an ornament. He noticed, that she seemed to really admire the depictions of the Christmas scenes. Whether it be a picture of an old Christmas village, or Santa, or innocent children playing in the snow. Not only that, but whenever she did, she would subconsciously stroke her stone hair or arms, with a face that he could only read as, disappointment?

But apart from that, the stone girl was almost having a whale of a time. It even, though not intentionally, caused him to have another flashback. Sam himself used to have two little cousins that years ago would ask him to help with the tree and decorating.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

 _In a cozy house with the fireplace lit, filled to the brim with holly, ceiling decorations and little figurines of snowmen, two little children, a boy and girl, were standing at the base of the house's Christmas tree, star in hand, staring up at the top where they could not reach._

 _Suddenly, both children found themselves being lifted up towards the summit of the tree, and looked back to see their older cousin lifting them both and telling them "Go on then, put it on."_

 _They both smiled as they placed the final piece on the top._

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

He wondered what the both of them were doing now.

"Um, Sam?"

The voice brought him back into reality. The stone girl beside him wasn't looking him in the eye, and by her posture, seemed quite nervous for what she was about to ask.

"This, might sound strange and random Sam, but, is it comfortable? Y'know, bones and blood and whatnot, are there a lot of problems?"

Sam blinked. "Sometimes, I guess. There are a lot of medical problems that people can have, you should count yourself lucky really Isabel."

The girl looked down slightly with an un-enthusiastic tone. "Yeah, I suppose. Just," she became really quiet. "Given what happened to Brenda."

She shook her own head though and completely snapped out of it. "Anyway" her tone now back to being uplifted. "Time to jump down and switch these lights on-" as soon as the sentence left her mouth, almost like magic the lights were aglow within the old gloomy library brightening up the entire two story room. "Huh? Wha-" facing downwards, both her and Sam could see John the headteacher standing next to the socket switch.

"My, you two have certainly done a remarkable job at this old place. Ah, brings back some old memories of mine actually."

Sam and Isabel, who was on his shoulder, climbed down with the girl immediately jumping onto the old man's as soon as they landed. "John have you come to help us?" she asked excitedly.

He chuckled "Perhaps I should. Though I don't know what else you could put up in here." He turned to the boy as Isabel jumped off him. "Maybe I should also relieve Sam" he approached the teen putting a hand on his shoulder. "Brenda's in the gym if you want to see her next" he whispered.

Exchanging a small nod, Sam realised and headed out the door of the library, but not before waving goodbye to Isabel.

"Thanks for the help Sam!"

The teen thought he should've really been the one to thank her. He had forgotten what it was like to hang up the ornaments with the younger relatives.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The gym was further than Sam originally remembered it was when he was a student here at this school. Perhaps it was due to the fact he always used to run around with his friends and so it seemed he was never far away from where he wanted to go. It felt a lot different walking alone in complete silence.

Opening the door into the gym, with a wave of audible memories of trainers screeching on the court's floor and basketballs being dribbled. The old place didn't change a bit. Well, apart from a series of ropes all piled up near the door having being taken down from the ceiling. That wasn't the only thing that got Sam's attention. In the corner of the court, with gym apparatus pulled out, ones as he remembered were for climbing on, the little second oldest statue girl was preoccupied trying her best to make a swing from said apparatus to a basketball hoop.

The teenage boy at first didn't want to intervene in what she was doing, but instead became curious in if she would succeed. Several attempts were tried and all failed. The girl was clearly becoming more and more frustrated that she could not make the swing. Deciding he couldn't watch this any longer, the boy stepped across the court, and perfectly without making a sound whatsoever, and climbed up the last remaining rope on the wall.

"Oh c'mon, it's a simple swing" the small stone girl groaned in the cutest voice possible, though a still audibly annoyed one. Just as she was about to have another likely futile attempt, something wooshed past her with enough force that nearly blew her off the apparatus entirely.

Falling onto her behind, she glanced up in wonder at the mysterious object that had just flown by, only to see it wasn't a mysterious object at all, but their human guest that they had welcomed in, performing another swing like he did in the main hall to save her and her sisters from the spider Arca.

"Wha-, Sam? I didn't hear you come in. How did you manage to sneak in here?"

"I'm, good at being quiet. But I heard you alright Brenda," said Sam changing the subject whilst hanging onto the basketball hoop with one hand, his other on the rope. "Trying to score two points are ya?" he let go of the hoop and swung back near the apparatus that the statue was sitting on.

"How are you doing that so easily?" she asked standing up. "I've been trying to swing there for nineteen tries now."

Sam managed to swing over and set himself down next to her, offering his hand. "Look Bren', I can't stand to see you try and fail so hard at this, especially for a twentieth time, it's too cringy. Let me show you a technique."

Looking him over, she glanced at his hand and then back up at him quizzically.

"Jump on my shoulder" he knew what she was going to ask and answered.

She stepped up to his palm, and as she laid her arm on his hand, he could notice something. Even though it was dark, his pupils had dilated enough to observe, a small tiny crack right were her arm and her shoulder puff connected. Pausing for second, he snapped out of it when Brenda climbed onto his shoulder.

Standing on the apparatus on his own two feet, he turned his head slightly to speak to his passenger and advised "First make sure the rope you swing with is secure. No good swinging from rubbish old tinsel. No offence to Isabel."

The teen then pushed off with his feet and swung straight at the wall of the gym where he pushed himself off again with his legs, performing several successful swings back and forth. Finally setting down on the ground, he picked up the statue with his palm who too seemed amazed at his performance, glancing at the wall and then at him, mouth agape. "Where did you learn moves like that?"

"Doesn't matter, I think I should show you a bit more of those techniques first. Are those trampolines over there?"

"Yeah but I can already do all that" she waved her hand jumping off his palm and onto the apparatus again, with him sitting next to her once more. "It's just I'd like to be perfect at all types of acrobatics, y'know?"

There was another silence. "Is that how you got that scar?" Sam figured he might as well just ask her.

"What?" she immediately grabbed the part of her arm that connected with her shoulder puff.

"What happened there Bren'? I know you only met me a few hours ago, but I've had some pretty nasty injuries myself. It's not pleasant I know, but if there's one thing it shouldn't be, is embarrassing. Tell me, I'm all ears" he offered.

The girl hesitated for a bit, before replying with an answer that surprised her companion. "It wasn't an injury. You see, that big grandfather clock we all stand under during the day, you know those poses we do when we stand there, well, I was originally carved with one of my hands behind my back, but the thing was, it only looked like that from perspective."

She didn't look at Sam at all and sighed with her next statement. "I was originally carved without an arm." There was another silence. "I only had the one for my first couple years of life. And although it was a century ago I still remember it vividly." She spoke a lot slower. "I was quite the burden, it took at least half an hour for my sisters to help me get down from the clock and back up too. It was a struggle to climb up tables, play the games I do now with my sisters and the other objects, having the three of them worry about me all the time."

The boy looked her over, and this thief had eyes full of pity. "So when did you get that?"

Brenda held her arm with her other. "The headteacher at that time, and knew about our existence as well, managed to craft and carve a stone little girl arm as best he could, and glued it on, miraculously fitting me right on point."

She looked at him in the eye again, a face of determination. "And I'll tell you what Sam, I'm not taking this limb for granted, I'm gonna use it to it's full potential, as well as my other limbs."

To Sam's surprise, he found himself telling her "There are people who deserve injuries, but not you four. You don't deserve anything like that to happen." He turned away for a second and then grabbed the rope again. "Piece of advice Brenda, when swinging, wrap it around your hand first, you're less likely to fall that way."

 **Hello people, it's that time of year again, and I'm determined to finish the fanfic this time, even if some of it will be after Christmas day. I've had this story since 2015 and really think I should complete it this time around. I'm gonna try and get it finished before new years. Anyway, have a merry Christmas everyone. Stay tuned for more. I've also updated the other chapters as well. Story and characters belong to me.**


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